The nativity stories are found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Neither Mark nor John has anything to say about the birth of Jesus. But within the Gospel of John, there are verses which, when read in the context of Advent and Christmas, allow us to approach this season with fresh insight and maybe even needed transformation. I want us to look at three passages which we have probably never considered as Advent texts and ask three questions arising from these verses to see if we are spiritually ready for this wondrous season.
JOHN 3:16—“For God so loved the world that God gave Her only son that everyone who trusts in him may not perish but may have eternal life” This familiar verse has been called “the gospel in miniature.” The first question I would ask us to consider as we ready ourselves for the coming of Christ is this: DO WE KNOW WHO WE ARE? Not who we are in the eyes of the world or in the eyes of those about us or even in our own eyes, but do we know who we are in the eyes of God?
The devotional writer Leslie Weatherhead served as an air raid warden during the German blitz of London in World War II. One night after a horrific day of bombing, he heard the cry of a child as he made his way through the smoking rubble. Around the corner he found a nine-year-old boy shaking and with tears streaming down his cheeks. Weatherhead went to the boy and asked, “Son, where is your father?”
The boy answered, “Overseas in the war.”
“What about your mother?”
“She was killed last week during an air raid.”
“Where are your brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles?”
“I don’t know,” shrugged the boy. “We’ve gotten ourselves separated.”
Weatherhead knelt beside the boy, put his hand on the lad’s shoulder, and asked, “Tell me son, who are you?” And with that question, the boy began to sob uncontrollably and finally he said, “Mister, I ain’t nobody’s nothing!”
Many in our world feel that way–orphaned, alone, discounted, on the outside looking in, not belonging, disconnected, worthless, “nobody’s nothing.” And perhaps at times that is the way many of us feel. Behind our masquerades of cheerful spirits, the “positive thinking” charades we put on, the macho images of men who are so afraid to feel–and underneath the silent sighs of unfulfilled potential and the haunting of our pain, fears and anxiety is a demon called “worthlessness”–the feeling and fear that we are “nobody’s nothing.” I learned through four decades of pastoring that regardless of their pretense and efforts to put forth a positive, confident image, so many people, who seem to “have it all together,” feel at the core of their being worthless and tragically alone.
But the good news of Jesus Christ tells us that we are God’s somebody, enough of a somebody for God to give Her own Self for our liberation and joy, our healing and transformation. The gospel should never be used to discount the worth of any human being. The good news is the story of how much we are each worth, how much we are each loved, and how much we are each cherished by our Creator. The “world” in the Gospel in miniature includes every single human being on this planet. (The word translated “world” is the Greek word “cosmos.”) There are no exceptions when it comes to the love of God.
Are you ready for all the feelings of worthlessness to melt away in the glory of God’s love poured out for you? Are you ready to realize from the inside out and in the deepest recesses of your heart and soul that rather than being “nobody’s nothing,” you are a precious, unique child of God whose worth has been sealed forever by sacrificial love? Are you prepared to embrace the identity you already possess in the eyes and heart of God? And are you willing to recognize that such an identity is the birthright of each and every person in this world? If you are ready to know who you really are, then you are ready for Christmas.
JOHN 1:43-46—“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” Can anything good come out of Nazareth? The second question to be asked as we determine our readiness for Christmas is this: ARE WE WILLING TO BE SURPRISED BY GOD?
The life of Jesus is a surprise from beginning to end. He was born to a peasant family who lived in a nondescript village named Nazareth, reared in a simple home, and taught a common trade. For at least fifteen years, he earned a living as a carpenter/handyman, and as an adult, by his own admission, he had no place to lay his head. He was betrayed and denied by his own followers, condemned by the high priests of his own religion, executed by the decree of a second-class Roman official, mocked in death by his tormentors, and buried in another man’s tomb. And yet it is in this life, beginning in such ordinary, common, simple circumstances, that we believe God Almighty, the Creator of this vast universe, became incarnate and dwelt among us.
What if such a surprise was not just a temporary strategy used for this one time in history? What if “surprise” is another name for God? What if the unexpected is the way this God acts and deals with humanity? Ponder some of the surprises in the Bible: Abraham and Sarah, so old they were “good as dead,” were chosen to begin God’s purpose of blessing all the nations in the world. Moses, living in the outback of the Sinai wilderness, had a speech impediment and yet was commissioned to confront the mightiest king on earth with God’s liberating justice. Hebrew slaves were set free to become God’s chosen people. Jeremiah, a teenager, was anointed to speak truth to the powers of this world. Mary, a teenage peasant, became the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. Twelve men with no credentials grew into apostles who spread good news throughout the Roman Empire and changed the course of history. Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone was a spoiled Italian dandy who became the beloved St. Francis and perhaps lived more of a Christ-like life than any human in history. (I know St. Francis was not a biblical character, but his witness was as rich and exemplary as any follower of Jesus in the New Testament. I see the story of his life as a fifth Gospel.)
The Nathanaels of this world with their calculating and suspicious minds might just miss the ways and presence of God if they are not careful. There is an amusing story connected to the remarkable feat of Wilbur and Orville Wright after their first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. When word of that flight reached their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, the editor of the local newspaper refused to believe and print the story. He dismissed one of the most transforming events in the history of the world with these words: “I do not think human beings will ever be able to fly, and if anyone ever does, it won’t be anybody from Dayton!” The editor’s comment was similar to Nathanael’s “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
One major and persistent point in Jesus’ parables is that God comes to us in surprising, unexpected ways. What is so surprising and unexpected about God’s advent is the choice of common, ordinary, run of the mill arenas in which She reveals the divine self. The surprise is not to be found in pomp and circumstance or in fireworks and marvels. The surprise comes in how God comes to us through ordinary events and familiar people. I mean, really—who would expect the Savior of the world to have a feed trough for a crib or to end his life on a cross as a condemned criminal?
Are you ready to be surprised by God during this Advent and Christmas season? Are you ready to meet God in perhaps those closest to you—your family; the friends you associate with on a regular basis; the person you work with day after day and whose pain, need, or wisdom can become a window into the heart of God; those whose physical poverty, loneliness, or simple ways can open your eyes to where God is present and working in our world? If so, you are ready for Christmas.
JOHN 1:14—“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” The third question to be asked is: ARE WE WILLING FOR THE WORD TO BECOME FLESH IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR WORLD? I enjoy the decorations, aromas, music, and sentiments of Christmas. I always have, even as a child. Whether it’s Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, my mother’s fruitcake (which even people who can’t stand fruitcake loved to eat), our Christmas CDs, the adorning of our house with the colors and symbols of the season, or the expectant eyes of a little child, I’m an easy target for Christmas sentiment. But sentiments by themselves aren’t worth a plug nickel. How quickly the feelings of this season evaporate within our society as we return to the “real world.”
The whole point of Advent and Christmas is that God has come into this “real world” in real flesh and real blood. The life God lived in Jesus Christ included sweat, labor, tears, pain, and ultimately death. From Herod’s slaughter of innocent babies in Bethlehem to the pounding of spikes into the hands and feet of that one who is God’s love incarnate, the gospel story is realistic. There is nothing fake, abstract, or utopian about a story which begins with a baby in a feed trough. God came not to make us feel gushy warm once a year (a good bottle of whisky can do that}. God came to flesh out the divine will for this earth and for humankind. God came to embrace us from the inside out and to cast the divine lot with the lot of this creation so that heaven and earth may become one.
And the four Gospels tell us how concretely that Word became flesh: the touching of lepers, in the healing of broken bodies and crushed spirits, the affirmation of the marginals and discounted of our world, meals which became banquets of joy because he wanted to dine with prostitutes and tax collectors (considered traitors to their own people) and with riffraff and “nobodies” and tell them that they were God’s own precious children, teachings which called upon Jesus’ followers to share their wealth with others and to reach out in concrete ways to seek reconciliation with their enemies, and a radical solidarity with all humankind which led to Jesus’ crucifixion.
Are we ready to let the Word become flesh this Advent and Christmas season? Are we ready to touch the lepers of our society whoever they may be? Are we ready to work for justice and peace through deeds of compassion and telling the truth? Are we ready to discover how large and inclusive Her family really is? Do we understand the cost of the Word no longer remaining just marks in a holy book or sounds from an impressive voice but becoming flesh in us for the healing and liberation of the world?
Perhaps a fictional story (a parable, if you please) from Leslie Weatherhead will help us understand how important it is for the Word to become flesh repeatedly in and through us. A man who was entirely careless of spiritual things died and went to hell. In spite of his self-centered life, there were those who loved and missed him. His business manager went down to see if there was any chance of bringing the man home. He fervently implored Satan to open the gates so the man could leave, but the iron bars did not yield. The man’s golf buddy also went to those gates and pleaded on behalf of his friend, but there was no response. The minister of the church to which the man supposedly belonged descended to hell and argued with Satan saying, “He’s not all bad. Please let him out and give him one more chance. I’m sure he will be and do better if he is now given one more opportunity.” But the minister’s plea fell on deaf ears. Other acquaintances took the same journey and begged for the release of this man, realizing after examining their lives that they could easily suffer the same fate if they continued their own selfish and greedy priorities. But each effort to free the man was met with cold and indifferent silence. Finally, the man’s mother came, but she did not seek his release. Quietly and with a strange catch in her voice, she said to Satan, “Let me in.” And immediately the gates opened. For love goes down even through the gates of hell and there redeems the damned.
God, our Mother, has come down to us to enter the hells we have created in this world. She has come down in flesh and blood because that’s the only way for us to experience the healing and liberation we need. Only as God casts the divine lot with that of this creation is there hope for any of us. And that is the only way our world and our sisters and brothers will ever experience the gospel. The Word must become flesh in and through us. As the Body of Christ, we are now the flesh and blood needed to reveal that good news of great joy. So, are you ready for the Word to become flesh in your life and your world? If so, they you are truly ready for Christmas.
Communion
The story is told of a little girl who was on the living room floor drawing pictures. Her dad asked, “Honey, what are you drawing?” The girl answered, “A picture of God.” The father responded, “Sweetie, don’t you know that no one knows what God looks like?” The girl replied, “They will when I’m through.”
That is what we celebrate this holy season. God has come to us in Christ so that we might know what the Creator of this magnificent and vast universe is really like. Of course, there is much we don’t know and a lot we would like to know. But in Jesus of Nazareth, we know more than enough to see the essence of who God really is: unconditional love, infinite compassion, uncompromising truth, pure goodness, always seeking justice tempered by mercy, and more approachable and dependable than the most loving of human parents.
The joy we celebrate at this Table with Bread and Wine is based on the light Jesus brings—more light than we can ever understand—more light than we can ever use—and more than enough light to guide us and every part of creation home.
Commission
Jesus shows us the face of God. What image of God does the world see in our lives, our love, our commitments? Let us make sure that the images of God we are communicating mirror what we have experienced at this Table and what we are waiting for in this Advent season. In other words, may we draw our pictures with care and joy to the glory of God.
